During this shorter week which consisted of one Pro-Day Day, I continued teaching Math, Science and MindUp. I got observed by my FA and SA on the same day one after another. It was nerve-racking as always but I had decided that it would be best to get two observations out of the way in one day. During my Math lesson, I was afraid that I was not teaching it well when students were not responding to my questions and not showing any sign of understanding. I had assumed in my mind that I was not doing a good job in my explanation so I continued to repeat myself and do more examples. However, as my FA pointed out at the end of my lesson, that the lack of participation on the students part was not due to my teaching but due to boredom and tiredness of sitting for a long period of time. I had originally planned two brain breaks but because I was trying so hard to provide more examples in order for them to grasp the concept, a brain break completely slipped my mind.  Also, when I noticed that students were not participating, it may have been the case where they were not confident in their responses and not because they were not understanding the concept. I should have given them an opportunity to pair-share because I understand it’s easier to share with one classmate than it is to share with the teacher or the rest of the class.  Brain breaks and pair-sharing are two important strategies that I need to try and incorporate into my lessons more often.

As for my MindUp lesson which was right after recess, I began with calming the students down because students are usually energetic from playing outside. When students were calm and ready to move on, I began with a review of the brain parts—and continued with focusing on mindful listening. I ended the lesson with mindful and unmindful acts and had students out of their seats for this activity. My SA had really enjoyed watching my lesson and told me that it was interesting and insightful. “Mindful” was our word of the week from that lesson onwards.

Entering my second week of practicum was nerve-racking because Monday was my observation day. Although I’ve been observed before, this one being the first one of my long practicum seemed more important than all the other ones. Moreover, I was set to be observed near the end of the day which I have never experienced before.  I was so glad to hear that my classroom management has improved greatly. However, I do need to work on my pacing and brain breaks as mentioned before. I also need to reconsider everything that I plan for my lesson to make sure it is something that the students could handle or will it ruin the enjoyment of the lesson.

As for asking important and critical questions, I tried my best during my math and science lessons to help students extend thinking and learning. When I ask questions, I try and have students explain out loud their thinking to the rest of the class so that they can show that they really understand the concept and it’s also a great way for other students to learn something as well. Sometimes, it’s much easier for students to just say the answer to something rather than explain it, so I try and give them an extra minute and come back to them. I emphasize that the answer is not as important as showing their work or explaining how they got to that answer. This really shows students that effort needs to be implemented in their work in order to succeed. This is difficult because only a few students can really do this and others are either too shy to share or they really don’t know how to. Usually when I have a written assessment, I can see that most students are capable of the concept and are showing their work, but are just afraid of sharing out loud which is completely fine. I hope to try and build more confidence in students and I always try and pick students who usually do not raise their hand. Even if I am confident that a student will not be able to answer a question, and they continuously have their hands up, I will still choose them and scaffold and facilitate their understanding by leading them to the right direction. I hope that this shows students that it’s okay if they are a little confused and that I will help them towards the right direction.

For Division, although there is always one right answer, there are multiple ways of getting to that answer. I have allowed students to share their work when answering a division problem to show other students that each and every way of thinking is correct. Some students can do it mentally, while others need to draw it out and sketch the problem to help their learning and all ways are okay. I ask students many times during a lesson if there is only one way to do a problem and they always say no. Sometimes I even ask students to try doing a problem in two different ways to help them understand the concept better.

I will continue to try and ask deeper and more critical questions to help students in their learning. I am looking forward to the other eight weeks of practicum to not only enhance the students’ learning but my own learning as well.